Last



Mar. 5, 1929. F. J. FRITZ 1,703,877

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Filed Aug. 31. 1925 Patented Mar. 5, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

mm: J. FRITZ, OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS.

LAST.

Application filed August 81, 1.925. Serial No. 58,540.

sal arch where this arch is weak, and one,

further, which provides a formation at and about the heel adapted to maintain the foot against its objectionable slipping forward, especially in such instances as ladies shoes havinghi h heels.

Other objects and advantages will appear hereinafter.

It has long been considered that in instances of Weak or fallen arches it is advantageous to support the same through a raising of the arch of the shoe somewhat above the normal, and this has been accomplished in some instances by raisin the corresponding part of the last, without changing its usual and ordinary contour, and in other instances by insertin in the shoe an arch sup ort of metal, 0 leather and metal or of eather alone.

The ordinary last has been made from time immemorial with a rounded convex surface at the shank portion defining the arch of the shoe. This shape has been used presumably on the theory that since the human foot presents a rounded contour in cross view at the hollow of the foot the last naturally ought to conform thereto. The result is that according to such ordinary practice the hollow of the foot rests in a concave trough formed in the arch of the shoe, until thro h wear it becomes somewhat flattened. t has been su gested also to makethis, shank portion of t e last with a V-shaped projectin part instead of a rounded one, thus de ning a V-shaped depression in the shank of the shoe.

. From my long experience in the, manufacture of shoes and from m investigation of thephysical structure of t e human foot and through experiment, I have ascertained that the most advantageous construction leading to the attainment o-f'the objects hereinabove set forth are accomplished through a radical de arture, so far as I am aware from all hit erto views upon the thesu bject, in the provision first of a last having a concave surface in the bottom of the shank extending forward longitudinally from about the heel and merging into the ball ortion, thus forming a longitudinal troug in the hollow of the last, and, next, in forming a shoe according to'such a last, thus providing a longitudinal ridge, not too high or abrupt, and which will be substantially shallow and yet of such material depth as to accomplish the objects, between the ball of the foot and the heel.

The improvements are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a bottom view of my improved last designed for use in.a womansshoe; Fig. 2 being a side view thereof; Figs. 3 and 4 being sectional views on the lines 3-3 and 4- 4 of Fig. 2 respectively; and Fi 5 being a side view of a shoe partially indongitudinal vertical section on a line corresponding to the line 55 of Fig. 1, the shoe being formed in accordance with the last illustrated. 7

All details of the last construction shown, except for the formation at the shank portion thereof, are old and well known, and require no detailed description.

With res ect to the improved portion of the last, igs. 1 and 3 show that at 10, namely at the part corresponding with the ball of the'foot, there begins a hollow or depression in the contour, and the shading ofFig. 1 andthe sectional view of Fig. 4 show that this hollow widens out at the middle part 10 to the side edges of the last at 11 and 12, and this hollowed or recessed formation continues to a place at about the line 13, Fig. 1, where it gradually merges into the usual and somew at rounded portion defining the heel.

From Fig. 5 it will be noted that the insole 15 has a longitudinally-.extendin raised portion 16 beginning at about the ball of the foot at 17 and extending .to about where the heel begins at 18. This raised portion 16 is to be understood as conforming to the sha )e of the illustrated last at.the bottom face of the shank and as being counter in shape to the recesses 10 and 10 of the last, and that the art 16 is therefore in the shape of a longitudinally-extending elevation rounded 'upwardl or .convex in cross view, with the roun ing or oonvexit substantially nil at about the'heel and fa ing out also in a narrow ton ue-like extension at the ball of the foot, thls extension corresponding to the depression marked 10 in Fig. 1.

The drawings are substantially to scale and well illustrate suitable proportions of the construction, although variations may be made therein.

A shoe thus constructed may have its arch higher than normal if so desired, but I desire to make it clear that the softlyrounded elevation 16 is not provided for the purpose of elevating the arch at all. For a normal foot the arch of my improved shoe will remain at the normal elevation. It is the shape of the bottom of the shank of the last, and the shape of the arch of the shoe next to the foot which is important and which gives rise to the distinctive advantages of this departure from what has heretofore been employed in shoe construction.

Increased comfort to the wearer results from the fact that according to this construction the Wearers weight is carried to a larger extent by the bony structure of the metatarsal arch, and this bony structure is given much more direct and otherwise better support than where such an upwardlyrounded'surface is absent.- Accordingly the present construction is highly advantageous in instances of weak and fallen arches, which may be remedied or greatly aided without increasing the relative height of the arch beyond the normal. Heretofore the orthopedic art has proceeded on the theory, in such cases, that the wearers arch should be raised somewhat and sometimes considerably above the normal. A shoe construction to that end is not comfortable, to begin with, but, and very importantly, the unnatural curves and shapes into which the metatarsal arch is thereby thrown make for soreness and strain which I find it possible, according to these improvements, to avoid, and by providing means for holding the arch substantially in its normal position the desired aid to nature is afforded.

The shoe made hereunder better retains its shape in several respects. place the tendency of the shoe at the arch to widen is substantially overcome by a construction which to a large extent prevents the lateral spreading of the foot tissues at this locality. In the next place, the construction arched upwardly in transverse view as well as longitudinally strengthens the shank of the shoe and overcomes much of the deformation at this place incident to pressure upon this part. Thirdly, through the provision of such a longitiulinally-cxtending elevation in the shank of the shoe the foot is maintained very well in its proper alignment within the shoe, and its tendency to push aside, )articularly toward the outside, is largely t us overcome, and thus is largely avoided the unsightly and worn condition of the shoe when the front half In the first of the upper overhangs the projecting sole along the outer edge thereof, for instance the left-hand edge of the sole on the left shoe or the right-hand edge on the right shoe. A fourth avoidance of much deformation of the shoe results from a provision which largely prevents the foot from crowding forward in the shoe, and this feature also adds to the wearers comfort.

With respect to this last-named advantage, by reference to Fig. 5 it will be noted that the relatively raised part 16 begins at about the heel of the shoe, and thus the wearers heel is provided with an obstruction to its slipping forward. This is an advantage in all forms of shoes, but is of particular importance in ladies footwear provided with high heels. The advantage of forming a pocket for the wearers heel for this purpose has been known for many years and attempts have heretofore been made to provide a desirable. construction in this respect, as by forming a substantially deep hollow for the heel. An insurmountable difficulty heretofore has been in the manufacture of such heel-pocket shoes by the auto matic and semi-automatic machinery e1n-' ployed. According to these improvements the desired result is attained without modifying the construction at the heel and without any other manufacturing difliculties.

My improved last and the footwear made thereover may be produced according to the usual and well-known methods, machinery and operations.

I contemplate as being included in these improvements such changes and departures from and modifications of what is herein specifically illustrated and described as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A shoe last having a longitudinally-extending depression, said depression being shallow for the purposes specified and extending substantially from side to side of the last at the shank portion including the place close to the heel portion to provide a wide and shallow depression defining the bottom surface of said shank portion, said depression be innin close to the forward part of the bee portion of the last and extending forward therefrom to provide that in a shoe formed over said last there is a raised portion in the inner sole of the shoe beginning close to the forward part of the wearers heel when the shoe is in use, and forming substantially a heel pocket defined at the front thereof by a gradually rising substantiallywide convex formation extending forward into the shank portion of the shoe.

2; A shoe last having a longitudinally-extending depression, said depression being shallow for the purposes specified, and extending substantially from side to side of the last at the shank portion including the place close to the heel portion to rovide a wide and shallow depression de ning the bottom surface of said shank portion, said depression beginning close to the forward 5 part of the heel portion of the last and extending forward therefrom throughout the shank portion and continuing forward substantially far into the ball portion and gradually narrowing and merging into the sur- 10 face defining the sole portion of the last in the ball portion thereof, the construction providing that in a shoe formed over said last there is, in the direction from toe to heel, a gradually rising and gradually widening elevation in the inner sole of the shoe in the ball portion of the shoe, said elevation merging into a convex elevation longitudinally extending throughout the shank portion of the shoe and terminating to form a heel pocket in the shoe.

FRANK J. FRITZ. 

